


We Have a Word for That Too

by Telesilla



Series: Uni!John [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: john_farr, M/M, Pon Farr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-23
Updated: 2009-03-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 12:49:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telesilla/pseuds/Telesilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During his first days and months on Atlantis, Ronon learns more than just new words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Have a Word for That Too

When Ronon first joined the military, he had to work hard at fitting in. If he'd gone in as an officer, it would have been one thing; he'd have been among what his mother referred to as "our kind of people." But his parents had been dead set against a military career and wouldn't give him the money necessary to purchase a commission.

So he'd enlisted, which had been a scandal in and of itself among his parents' set.

For Ronon, it had been a real shock. Suddenly he found himself dealing with a whole squad of soldiers who were most certainly weren't "our kind of people." He wasn't stupid; he knew that if he looked too taken aback by the slang and the frank discussions about sex, he'd be setting himself up for a lot of harassment and so he did his best to cultivate a strong but silent persona. His pedagogue had taught Ronon that listening first and speaking later was the beginning of wisdom and although Ronon hadn't always followed that advice, it certainly worked with his squad.

He got used to it eventually, learning not to blush when his female squad-mates used words like _dimyok_ and _tras_ or bragged about their conquests as easily as the men did. He never really felt comfortable swearing and while he had a couple of casual encounters while on leave with his squad-mates, he felt so guilty after the second time that he didn't do it again.

He was the biggest member of the squad and an excellent fighter as well, so he took less grief for his attitude than a smaller man might have. By the time he became a specialist, he had strong and silent down to an art and his squad was proud enough of his achievement that they were more than willing to excuse his idiosyncrasies.

Being on Atlantis, however, felt like joining up all over again. The 'Lanteans didn't just talk about sex in mixed company, they actually _had_ sex in mixed company.

Confused, he chose to ask Teyla about it, hoping that she might be able to provide some insight.

"The people of Earth and their home galaxy have an enemy known as the Goa'uld," she said. "These Goa'uld did something to the inhabitants of Earth that caused them to...it changed they way they reproduce. They go through what they call Cycles and during these Cycles they...." She paused and frowned a little and Ronon thought that even his mother would have approved of her carefully discreet use of language.

"They have a lot of sex in the hallways?" Ronon used _syupsis_ which was the mildest term he knew for sex, but he wasn't quite sure how well it would translate into Athosian.

"And in the messhall and the infirmary and the atriums, although Doctor Weir does her best to keep people from having it in the gateroom and Rodney kicks people out of the labs when they are Cycling." She sighed. "Dr. Beckett explained that the process is much like animals going into heat; they simply cannot help themselves. It is a lack of control that was forced upon their entire race and their culture reflects that."

Ronon blinked. "At least the Wraith just want to eat us."

"You know," she said with a thoughtful look on her face, "I had not thought about it that way."

"So how's it work?" he asked and then listened as she did her best to explain.

* * *

Several days later, Ronon had a much more graphic introduction to certain aspects of Earth culture. He had planned to meet Sheppard in the gym, but got there a little early, early enough to catch several Marines discussing something rather heatedly. He paused out of sight and listened.

"Nobody told me I'd be taking orders from a fucking bike," one of them was snarling.

"Dude, didn't you hear the rumors at the SGC?" someone else said.

"I thought it was bullshit," the first one said. "Even those pussies running the Air Force don't give base commands to goddamn whores."

Ronon didn't know what a bike was--either the translation to _mathron_ was wrong or calling someone a bicycle was some deadly insult. On the other hand, whore translated perfectly as did base command.

And that, thought Ronon with a frown, didn't make any sense. Of all the 'Lanteans Ronon had met so far, Sheppard seemed to be the least likely to suddenly go into some kind of sexual frenzy. Ronon had been watching him and he'd noticed that even more than the other 'Lanteans, Sheppard kept everyone at a careful arm's distance.

It didn't matter though; Sheppard was Ronon's new task master and that was more than enough. He squared his shoulders and started forward.

"Don't."

Ronon turned, trying to hide his embarrassment. He'd been so caught up in what he was hearing that he'd missed Sheppard coming up behind him.

"But they called you...."

"I've heard worse." Sheppard shrugged. "They're Marines and anyway, Sergeant Nichols is in there; let them sort it out."

"Nobody cares about that shit here," a new voice said.

"I fucking care," the first guy replied. "Who wants to take orders from someone who spends most of his time spreading for anyone who wants a ride? Goddamn bikes...."

"That goddamn bike rode a fucking nuclear bomb on a suicide mission into a Wraith hiveship. He went all Bruce Willis on a buncha Genii who took over the city and took Weir and McKay hostage. He's fucking badass, Dude. He's hardcore."

"I heard he killed something like seventy of them," one of the others said.

In spite of himself Ronon glanced at Sheppard, who shrugged again. "It was closer to fifty," he said quietly.

"I don't fucking give a damn. I'm not taking orders from a motherfucking slot."

If Ronon hadn't already been watching Sheppard very closely, he would have missed the way Sheppard's eyes narrowed, just a little. Whatever a slot was, it wasn't good.

Apparently at least one guy in the gym felt the same way, Ronon heard the meaty thud of a fist hitting flesh. Someone grunted and swore and the fight got underway. It sounded like two on one, and from the shouted encouragement Ronon heard from the sidelines, the guy who objected to Sheppard was on his own.

This time Ronon heard the footsteps in the corridor; he and Sheppard turned to see Major Lorne hurrying down the hall. Sheppard held up a hand to stop him as well and Lorne nodded.

"Apparently Mason doesn't think an APS should be base commander," Sheppard said, his tone just a little aggressive.

"Sounds like the rest of the guys don't agree with him." Lorne paused and looked at Sheppard. "I know I wouldn't be here if I did."

Sheppard nodded and then glanced at the door to the gym. "I think this has gone on long enough. Shall we?"

Mason was still on his feet when they entered the gym, but he was weaving pretty badly. Ronon figured one maybe two more blows would take him down. His hands twitched, aching to form fists and deliver those blows, but he remained behind Sheppard and Lorne, doing his best to loom menacingly.

"Is there some kind of problem?" Sheppard's voice was mild.

One of the men on the sidelines snapped out, "attention!" and all seven of the Marines in the room snapped to attention, Mason barely managing it.

"Thank you, Sergeant," Sheppard said. "Now, what seems to be the problem here?"

"Nothing, Sir," the sergeant said. "Just a little hand to hand training, Sir."

"Hand to hand training," Sheppard echoed. "Is that what's going on here? Dublowski?"

One of the men who had been beating Mason stared at the wall behind Sheppard. "Yes, Sir!"

"Emerson?"

"Yes, Sir!"

Sheppard turned toward Mason. "Only two on one, Private?" He shook his head. "I thought Marines were tougher than that."

Mason opened his mouth and then apparently realized that Sheppard hadn't actually asked a question and closed it again.

"Go see Dr. Beckett," Sheppard said after a long silence. "When he clears you for duty again, report to back Sergeant Nichols. I'm sure he and Specialist Dex can work to...help you meet the standard we expect on Atlantis."

"Yes, Sir," Mason mumbled, and Ronon winced. With his mouth swollen up like that, talking had to hurt.

Sheppard glanced at Lorne and nodded. "Dismissed," Lorne snapped. The Marines scattered quickly.

"Sergeant," Sheppard said. Nichols turned in the doorway.

"Sir?"

"Hand to hand?" Sheppard's tone was mild now.

"Yes, Sir."

"Okay, that'll do" Sheppard said. "Thanks," he added quietly enough that the sergeant could pretend not to have heard.

"Sir." Nichols left the gym.

"Should I send Mason back to Earth?" Lorne asked.

"Not yet," Sheppard said, shaking his head. "Give it some time and then we can check in with Nichols, see what he thinks." He turned on his heel and left the gym and Ronon let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Can I ask you something, Major?" Ronon said, once he was sure Sheppard was out of earshot.

"Sure," Lorne said.

"What's a bike?"

"Oh God," Lorne said. He took a deep breath and then looked up at Ronon. "According to my briefing, you Pegasus natives don't go through Cycles like we do."

"No," Ronon said. "Teyla told me about it though."

"Did she explain how it worked?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"But she told you that someone in a Cycle needs to be Received, or at least should be Received by someone compatible, right?" When Ronon nodded, Lorne went on. "There are people who can Receive anyone, people who are compatible with the entire population. We call them Universal Receptors and they're very, very rare."

Ronon thought back to what Mason had said. "Sheppard's one, right?"

"Yeah." Lorne looked down at his feet for a moment. "Unis...sorry, that's a slang term, one of the polite ones. They...a lot of people look down on them because, as you can imagine, they spend a lot of time having indiscriminate sex. Makes sense when you think about it; in any group of people, there will always be people who can't find any other compatible receptor. So unis are expected to put sex first and their job second. In the military, most of them are medics or chaplains; twenty years ago, the Colonel wouldn't have been allowed to be a pilot, let alone command a base."

Mason calling Sheppard a slot made sense then, as did his use of the word whore. "But why bicycle?" Ronon asked, using the Satedan word in case he got it wrong.

"Any Cycler can ride one," Lorne said, very quietly.

"Oh." It still didn't sound right; Ronon assumed there was some kind of pun that didn't translate. The Ancestor's Rings were amazing, but even though their translation programs enabled people from other planets to speak to one another, slang always suffered. "He said something to you, another term...?"

"APS," Lorne said. "Stands for All Purpose Socket." He frowned a little. "Look, I don't know how it was on Sateda, but on Earth there's this thing where people in a minority sometimes use the negative slang words for their group as kind of a pride thing. So the Colonel can call himself an APS or even a bike if he wants, but...."

"But we can't."

"Yeah," Lorne said looking relieved. "If you ever have more questions about it, you can come to me. Everyone got the same briefing about how all the Pegasus natives are strictly hands off, but if anyone jumps you during a Cycle, hit a panic button if you're near one and if you aren't...."

Ronon gave him a tight smile and patted the butt of his gun. "I can set it to stun."

Lorne grinned back. "That'll work."

* * *

Ronon slowly got used to seeing people grinding up against each other in the hallways. For some reason, he thought it was hilarious whenever he came across McKay yelling "have some fucking decency, you morons! No one wants to see that! You have fucking _rooms!_" at some poor couple caught up in their Cycle in a public place. No scholar or scientist of McKay's standing on Sateda would have used language like that, but slowly Ronon was beginning to understand that most sex related terms simply weren't taboo to the 'Lanteans.

With, of course, one single exception; no one who had been on Atlantis any length of time used any term other than uni or universal receptor. Sheppard wasn't the only one on base; one of Beckett's nurses was a universal receptor as was one of the linguists, but Ronon was pretty sure it was respect for Sheppard that kept people from being assholes.

He'd been on Atlantis for about two months the first time he saw Sheppard deal with his other duty. Beckett brought it up in a staff meeting, interrupting Weir as she tried to schedule a mission.

"Dr. Lamont is scheduled to go into her Cycle this afternoon," Beckett said, giving Sheppard an apologetic look. "Dr. Stillman is with Corporal Lansing and unfortunately, Marie picked up that flu bug that's going around."

"Lamont's got a pretty short Cycle," Sheppard said after a moment's thought. "If we reschedule the mission to M3X-950 for the middle of next week, we should be good." He stood up, adjusting his right glove. "Lorne, don't forget to look into the C4 supplies; SGC thinks we ask for too much of it."

"The SGC can...." Lorne trailed off and nodded to Sheppard. "I'm on it, Sir."

Across the table, McKay looked down at his tablet with a scowl on his face.

They'd had a team night planned and Rodney radioed both Ronon and Teyla and invited them to his quarters. "I was bringing the snacks anyway and this way, you both get to avoid _Back to the Future_ for another couple of weeks," he said as he ushered them in.

Teyla murmured something that sounded sympathetic and Ronon looked around. He'd never been in McKay's quarters before and he'd wondered if they would be messy or neat; he'd been around McKay long enough to know that it could go either way.

It turned out that neat was the answer and Ronon found himself wondering why the 'Lanteans didn't have more art that wasn't created by the Ancestors. Sheppard had the one picture of the singer in black, while McKay only had framed certificates of some kind and two big white boards. One was covered with the same kind of scribbling that Ronon had seen McKay do in the lab, and the other looked like a 'Lantean style calender, although it was so covered with notations in different colored ink that Ronon wasn't sure.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Cycle schedules," McKay said over his shoulder as he set out a bowl of those pretzel things Teyla like so much. "Just the important ones. Green's me, red's Elizabeth, black's Sheppard, blue is Zelenka and Carson's purple. I've got a master schedule on my computer, but I like to have the important people where I can see them right away."

It didn't surprise Ronon that the blue and red overlapped, but when he realized the green and black did as well, he turned and looked at McKay. "You and Sheppard?"

"You didn't tell him?" McKay asked Teyla.

"Rodney, you know that I believe that to be private information."

"Well yeah, and of course I try to respect that, but we're team."

"And Ronon is new to the team. I did not wish to...shock him."

"A little too late for that," Ronon said, leaning over McKay's shoulder to snag one of the black and while layered cookies that McKay only shared with the team.

"Hey, leave some for us," McKay said, immediately grabbing a couple of cookies and clutching them firmly. "Although really, they're not the same without a cold glass of milk, and no, that pink stuff from...whatsit doesn't count."

He paused and looked at Teyla. "Are you okay with me talking about it, or should I catch up with Ronon sometime tomorrow?"

"If you wish to discuss it," Teyla said, "you may."

"Okay, So obviously you heard that John's a uni." He paused and grinned. "I saw Mason a couple days after his...indoctrination; served him right, the intolerant asshole."

"He's turning out okay," Ronon said with a shrug.

McKay snorted and stuffed a cookie into his mouth. "So," he said through a mouthful of black crumbs, "Unis Cycle too, and it turns out that John and I are compatible and, more importantly," he waved at the white board, "it suits the schedule. Not only do we not conflict with Lorne, Zelenka or Elizabeth, but since we're on the same team, the down time is cut in half if I Receive him and vice versa."

"Makes sense," Ronon said. Teyla still looked a little uncomfortable and so he tactfully changed the subject, asking about McKay's certificates.

"I thought you'd be more used to their whole weird set up," Ronon said, later as he walked down the hall with Teyla. "You've been here for over a year."

"I am, for the most part," she said. "It is just that...." She shook her head. "I do not think Rodney takes his relationship with John as lightly as he says. I believe that John's...duty as a universal receptor troubles Rodney."

Thinking back to McKay's frown during the staff meeting and his rather frantic babbling during the course of the evening, Ronon had a feeling that she was right. "And Sheppard?"

"I have known John longer than any other 'Lantean and yet...I still do not know how he feels about many things. They have an expression that suits him perfectly: 'he plays his cards close to his chest.'"

"Yeah," Ronon said. ""I'm kinda figuring that out."

As he walked back to his room, he passed one of the big red panic buttons. It looked out of place, jarring against the Ancestors' color scheme. Ronon looked at it for a moment and then walked on down the hallway.

Sheppard and McKay were hardly the kind of men who invited pity, and yet Ronon found it in him to feel sorry for them.

 

_-end-_

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was planned as a short story that used Ronon's POV to show how people reacted to John as a uni and base commander. But then it kind of took off and this is the result. I should warn you all up front that I had most of this written before I got a rather nasty bug and so I may be a little slow to answer feedback. Thank you, members of [](http://community.livejournal.com/john_farr/profile)[**john_farr**](http://community.livejournal.com/john_farr/) for being so awesome and welcoming.


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